Trump's immigration raids split White House

Telegraph

17 hours ago

Donald Trump's hardline stance on immigration has caused a split in the White House, pitting the policy's chief architect against politicians under pressure from farming lobbies.
The president's administration has been ramping up immigration raids to fulfil Mr Trump's campaign pledge to carry out the 'largest deportation program' in US history.
Under the direction of Stephen Miller, Mr Trump's deputy chief of staff, agents trying to hit targets of 3,000 arrests per day have chased migrant workers through fields in Southern California.
But on Wednesday, Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, warned Mr Trump that farming groups were concerned raids on agriculture would decimate an industry that relied on immigrant workers, the New York Times reported.
She said farmers relied on migrants to work long hours and that farm groups were concerned they would stop turning up for work out of fear.
More than 40 per cent of US farmworkers are undocumented immigrants, according to a 2022 report by the US Department of Agriculture.
The following day, the US president responded to a post on Truth Social that said migrants in the farming and hospitality industries were 'very good, long time workers'.
He wrote: 'Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.
'In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs. This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the criminals out of the USA. Changes are coming!'
New guidance issued by Tatum King, a senior official at the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), instructed agents to put a 'hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture [including aquaculture and meat packing plants], restaurants and operating hotels', according to the newspaper.
But White House aides such as Mr Miller, were reportedly furious, exposing divisions within the administration over its immigration policy and Mr Trump's priorities to boost deportations while retaining his political support.
Agricultural associations, whose members are typically Republicans, are understood to have been raising concerns with their Senate and congressional offices about the raids.
The Trump administration had initially focused on targeting criminal migrants but has shifted gears in recent weeks.
Mr Miller is credited as the mastermind who pushed for raids to be expanded to places where immigrants congregate and workplaces in a bid to drive up the numbers.
Last month, Mr Miller set quotas for a t least 3,000 arrests a day, a steep jump from the roughly 660 daily arrests during Mr Trump's first 100 days in office.
He is understood to have directed ICE chiefs to start targeting spots where migrants congregate, such as farms, stores like Home Depot, and workplaces.
Following a spate of raids in Los Angeles, protests erupted in the city, which has spread across the US.